Part 18

by CM Towns

When Red Sprite awoke she found herself floating in a liquid container with a breathing apparatus. The liquid was thicker than water but not by much and it was easy to tell that it was designed to be flame retardant. Sprite closed her eyes when she spotted a man looking at her. He was either a scientist or a guard. Sprite reconstructed what she thought she saw in the room. One man, a few terminals, the size of the room being close to seventeen yards between her chamber and the front door.
For what felt like hours Red Sprite worked out possible escapes in her head. She measured the strength of the liquid with small sparks from her fingers. Sprite determined that it would take a lot of power to blast through. She blinked a few times and saw a couple scientists and one soldier by the door. Red Sprite started to think about what she would do if she could break out. They would call for re-enforcements too quickly for her to mount a true escape. She would have to be smart about all this. Or she would have to be incredibly dangerous. Sprite knew that the best choice would be a combination of the two.
Red Sprite breathed fire through the tube of the breathing apparatus. It would blow out the oxygen and would leave her without air but Sprite felt confident the risk was worth it. If they wanted her dead they would have done so already. She thrashed around violently as the scientists scrambled to get her out. First they drained the liquid followed by opening the top which she was connected to by a harness. As the top suspended her over the ground Sprite snapped out a trio of fireballs before burning the harness and landing on the cold ground.
Red Sprite knocked the guards gun away, stuck at his throat and threw a fire blast in the way of the opening door. Red Sprite countered a punch by the guard and fought back with a simple kick to the ankle as he rushed in for a grab. This sent him head first into the bottom of the container. Red Sprite then grabbed one of the scientists as the other cowered in the corner.
She shouted at the bespectacled man, “WHERE ARE MY FRIENDS!?”
He shook his head quickly and Sally responded with a burning touch on his face to which he screamed.
“One floor down in-” he was interrupted by an alarm. “It doesn’t matter. They’re on their way to put you back in your place.”
Red Sprite burnt the scientists face, he screamed, writhed on the ground and she thought of the next move. Sprite looked at those on the ground then to the door. She counted the seconds but the door remained closed. Red Sprite pointed to the scientist who was cowering and said, “Open the door.”
Sprite raised her hand with the pointer and middle finger at the ready. Once the door opened she swung her arm down and created a wave of fire that shot right through. Sprite ran, slide, and on her back fired from her palms to both sides. To her left it engulfed a Teiwaz soldier. She moved around him and blew another blast of fire from her palm. The others moved to dodge and sprinklers went off. Red Sprite ripped the fire from the rolling soldier behind her and next lit herself on fire. She ran forth, firing tiny fireballs and the soldiers got out of her way.
Once Red Sprite was a nice distance away she cut into a corridor. She powered down, and was impressed with the fabric of the clothing they had put her in. It did not get vaporized when she flamed on though it did blacken somewhat from her blaze. Sprite suddenly got hit with the realization that she had been taken out of her costume to be suited into these clothing and a disgusted feeling climbed into her gut. Her attention from that sickening thought was diverted by the scientist who ran right past her in a hurry. Sprite decided to go the direction she came from.
Along the way she traded fire with some Teiwaz soldiers and got some directions from one scientist looking to flee. Sprite followed those directions which lead to a couple turns through the facility as she searched for the elevator. Red Sprite ducked back around a corner when she was spotted, narrowly avoiding an explosive blast from a recent acquaintance.
“RED SPRITE!” the girl shouted.
“Arsonist!” Red Sprite shouted back.
“Me and my friends kicked your ass and we’re going to do it again,” she threatened. Sprite stayed hidden at the corner and heard her steps. Red Sprite sat down and heard her come closer. Arsonist swung around and threw a blast over Red Sprites head which left her open for Sprite to push her into a wall.
In close Arsonist tried to throw punches but Sprite used her forearms to block and followed with a few body shots. Arsonist, using her size and strength advantage, easily pushed her back. Instead of a proper follow through Arsonist took the extra time to attempt another of her bombs but it missed. Red Sprite tagged her with a jab to the chin. Followed next by a kick to the gut. As Arsonist was rocked Sprite pulled her short hair so that she’d hit the ground. Arsonist tried to roll and Red Sprite stomped on her gut, pushing all the air out of her body.
Arsonist cussed as she attempted to get on all fours. Red Sprite could have ended the fight quicker. She could have defeated her and the two others back at Rune Inc. facility as well. Arsonist was arrogant, had limited hand to hand combat training, and while her powers were potentially lethal Red Sprite believed Arsonist was still understanding how to use them.
Arsonist blurted out more colorful language as she tried a bomb. Sprite used a short range fireball to explode it. The blast was too close to Arsonist, who shielded her face but the force of impact threw her to the ground. The hand she used to create the blast was now bleeding. Sprite knew Arsonists hands had to be extra durable to create such dangerous energy but when mixed with her own wildfire it would cause some damage-probably not long term though.
“I do not do banter,” Red Sprite said as she moved around Arsonist. She grabbed her other wrist, twisted it until broken. “You are out of your league. Let this be a warning to you if you continue down this path. If we meet again, I will not be so nice.”
Red Sprite walked to the elevators while Arsonist screamed on. Red Sprite’s mind had already left her opponent, working out the lack of opposition she met. She knew the only reason would be that Reina Titán had entered the building. This battle was over.